Mace: Conner Brothers Construction, Book 3 (CBC)

by Cee Bowerman

  “Now you know my kryptonite,” Reba admitted.

  “Baths?”

  “Yes.”

  Oh, I was pretty sure it was my kryptonite too. “You like them, huh?”

  “I love them, but I don’t get to relax like this very often. I was a very good girl today, so I needed a reward.”

  “You were a very good girl?” Oh, damn, a dirty mind was a terrible thing to waste. This conversation was putting mine through its paces.

  “Yeah,” Reba chuckled. “I managed to not raise my voice at my kids one single time. Not even when they were arguing in the car or when they got into a fistfight at the dinner table. I refrained.”

  “Fistfight? How old are your kids again?”

  “In a few weeks, they’ll both be seven. Irish twins, remember.”

  “That’s just a funny saying,” I chuckled. “We’re Irish and have twins everywhere you look.”

  “Lena’s told me about all of you guys and I’m pretty sure that your mom is sitting next to God right now, explaining how to take care of things. And I bet she could teach him a thing or two about organization and patience.”

  What started out as a chuckle turned into full blown laughter before she finished her description of where Mom was right now.

  “Was she a drill sergeant in the Marines before she married your dad?”

  “They married fresh outta high school.”

  “Damn,” I heard Reba whistle. “Seriously. Right hand of God.”

  “What are your parents like?”

  “They’re still alive and kicking, I’m sure,” Reba chuckled but there was no humor in it. “I haven’t talked to my dad since I was little and my mom since I moved in with my ex-husband. She did show up at my wedding, but one of the ushers got her out before she caused a scene.”

  “Ew. That bad, huh? Is that why you don’t live in your hometown?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Reba paused for a minute and I heard her sigh. “I moved here when I got a divorce so I could be close to my aunt and uncle. They’re great people and the closest thing to grandparents my kids have.”

  “That’s good,” I said softly, realizing that my kids would never know their grandparents either. “What about your ex’s parents?”

  “They’re still around too.” Another sigh. “I’m the horrible woman who took their grandchildren away. Their darling son can do no wrong.”

  “Oh, it’s like that, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Reba waited a beat and then changed the subject. “So when are you going to take me out to dinner, non-grumpy Conner?”

  I smiled at Reba’s question, glad she seemed as excited about our date as I was.

  “When are you free? Maybe we should do it that way since you’ve got to work around the kids.”

  “You may be right,” Reba laughed. “My kids are going fishing with my aunt and uncle this weekend, so we could do it then.”

  “Okay, I can work with that. Which night?”

  “Friday? I get off at noon again and they’ll be picking the kids up from daycare on their way out of town.”

  “Friday night it is.” I smiled to myself, hoping it would go over into Saturday morning and maybe even all the way to Sunday.

  “Are we going to dinner?”

  “Hmmm,” I thought for a minute. “I’m not sure what we’re doing. What time are you free again?”

  “Noon.”

  “Don’t make any plans that day, okay? I might start our date in the afternoon.”

  I had an idea. I’d need to get some input from Lena and Violet, but I thought it just might work.

  “I’ll leave the day clear,” Reba said slowly. “But I’m curious about what you have planned.”

  “I think you’ll like it.”

  “Mysterious,” Reba laughed. “You know I’m going to be wondering about this constantly for the next three days, right?”

  “It will keep you thinking of me at least.”

  “I don’t really think that will be a problem.”

  3.

  “My brother’s an asshole, so I have to stay on my toes.”

  Vada

  REBA

  “You didn’t go to timeout once today?” I asked Vada while I stared at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you feverish?”

  “Mom!” Vada rolled her eyes. “I was good, I promise!”

  “She was only good because she was afraid you wouldn’t let her go fishing this weekend if she got in trouble again.”

  “Whatever works,” I mumbled. I glanced in the rearview mirror again and saw that neither of my children were paying attention to me. Instead, they were glaring at each other waiting to see who would blink first.

  I’d tried every trick in the book to help my children get along, but nothing had worked so far. I’d even used some ideas from my Aunt Sandra and she’d raised everyone’s kids at one point or another. If anyone had parenting hacks, it would be her.

  Both of my kids were more stubborn than was probably healthy. I blamed it on their father, but I knew that they probably got the majority of that trait from me.

  Their father was more of a pleaser. A follower. Travis didn’t really have much of a backbone and relied on his mom to fight his battles, even now that he was in his 30s.

  I stopped at the stop sign at the end of our street, prepared to turn and go home, but luckily caught sight of the car in my driveway before I did.

  As if I had conjured her from thin air with just a thought, Ellen, my ex mother-in-law was parked in my driveway. I took a deep breath and looked straight ahead as I decided how to proceed. Evasive maneuvers seemed like the best plan, so I didn’t turn. I drove through the intersection and took a left to head back into the center of town, scrambling for a reason to give to my kiddos for the change in plans.

  My phone rang and I reached into my purse to glance at the screen, knowing in my heart it was Ellen. I was surprised to see Lena's name. I pulled over into a convenience store parking lot and answered the phone.

  “Lena?”

  “Reba, it’s Finn,” I heard my friend’s fiancé’s voice on the line. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I think Lena needs some help and she refuses to go to the emergency room.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “She’s getting a horrible cramp in her leg almost every time she moves. Her toes are curling all the way under and all she can do is cry.”

  “She worked out really hard today, but it shouldn’t be doing that to her,” I leaned my head back on the headrest and thought about my session with Lena today. “Are you guys at home? Can I come over?”

  “Please!” Finn almost shouted. “Yeah, we’re at home.”

  “I’ve got my kids with me.”

  “I’ll keep them entertained or they can run around outside. Hell, we’ll feed all of you dinner, just come over.”

  “Okay, I’ll head that way now. Have her sit down and drink a bottle of water while she waits for me.” I told him. Finn hung up and I glanced up at the mirror to look at my kids. They had stopped their staredown and were waiting for me to tell them what was going on. “Change of plans. We’re going to my friend Lena’s house for dinner.”

  “What are we having?” Cyrus asked me seriously.

  “We’ll figure it out when we get there,” I told him. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it’s safe for you.”

  “I know,” Cyrus smiled at me in the mirror. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “I’ll watch too,” Vada assured me.

  My kids couldn’t stand each other, but they damn sure took good care of one another. I could count on that just as surely as I could count on their constant fighting.

  “They’ve got some little babies there and also some dogs,” I told my kids. “And they live out in the country, so you can play outside if you want to. Maybe you can go exploring or something while I work on Lena.”

  “Babies?” Vada bounced as much as he seatbelt allowed. “Can I hold one? They have two?”

  “Yep, twins,” I smiled. “
There are a lot of twins in their family.”

  “Our teacher said we were twins,” Cyrus commented.

  “Irish twins. It means you were born in the same year,” I explained. “That’s what she meant.”

  “We don’t even look alike,” Vada rolled her eyes.

  Eyes that were the exact color of her brother’s. And those eyes were set in a sweet face that was almost identical to her brother’s. And their hair was the same shade too.

  But they didn’t look anything alike according to the two of them.

  “I don’t look like you,” Cyrus grumbled. “Thank God.”

  “Whatever,” Vada rolled her eyes.

  And then the fight was on and I got to listen to it for the entire drive out to Finn and Lena’s house.

  It was just lovely.

  ◆◆◆

  MACE

  “Hi.” I jumped when I heard a little girl’s voice speak from just a few feet away. I hit my head on the oil pan and then again on the concrete before I turned my head to see who was talking to me.

  “Hi,” I said as I took in the little girl who was squatting down next to the car I was under. I glanced around her to see if there was anyone else. “Who are you?”

  “I’m not really supposed to talk to strangers.”

  “Well, that makes sense.” I smiled at the little girl from under my sister Greer’s car. “Are you lost?”

  “No,” the little girl scoffed at me, complete with an eye roll. “Do I look lost?”

  I got a glimpse of Reba when the little girl gave me an attitude and I just had to ask, “Your mama is Reba Lane, huh?”

  “Yeah,” the little girl nodded. “How did you know?”

  “Just a guess.” I scooted out from under the car and sat up to stare at the girl I knew had to be Vada Lane. “That means you’re Vada.”

  “Yup,” she nodded. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to change the oil in this car.”

  “I’m going to help you.”

  “You are?”

  “Yup,” she nodded again. “I am. Mama says that girls can do anything they put their mind to and my mind wants to work on this car with you.”

  “You might get dirty.”

  Vada raised one eyebrow and stared at me and it took everything I had not to laugh at her.

  “Alright then,” I caved. “Slide on under here and I’ll show you what I’m doing.”

  Vada and I changed the oil on Greer’s old car and then I let her get in and start it. It didn’t turn over, so I guessed that the battery was most likely dead. It hadn’t been started in almost six months and I’d expected a few issues when I’d started this chore after work today.

  “Now what?” Vada looked up at me from the driver's seat and raised that eyebrow again.

  “Now we need to jump that battery,” I told her. “Can you pull the hood release?”

  “Sure.” She kept staring at me and I realized she had no idea what I was talking about. With a laugh, I pointed at the lever she needed to pull. She popped the hood and then hopped out of the car to join me at the front. “How did you learn all this stuff?”

  “I learned by working with my dad.”

  “I don’t have a dad,” Vada said honestly. “Well, I do, but we don’t get to see him.”

  “Hmm.” I didn’t know what to say to that. Reba and I hadn’t discussed her ex yet, so I wasn’t sure how to steer this discussion.

  “He makes bad choices, so it’s best if we don’t visit him until he gets his priorities straight,” Vada explained. “How are your priorities?”

  “Do you even know what a priority is?”

  “I do not,” Vada said simply. “Do you have some?”

  “I do,” I laughed.

  “Are they in order?”

  “I believe they are.”

  “Well, then you’re doing good.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m six, but my mom says I have the attitude of a teenager.”

  “She might be right,” I said honestly. “You’re pretty sassy for a 6-year-old.”

  “My brother’s an asshole, so I have to stay on my toes.”

  The soda I had just taken a drink of spewed out of my mouth onto the engine of the car.

  “Are you okay?” Vada asked as I leaned against the fender and tried to catch my breath. “Are you choking to death?”

  I shook my head and coughed a few more times to clear my throat.

  “Where is your brother?” I asked the little girl.

  “He’s on the porch reading.” Vada rolled her eyes again. “That’s all he ever does.”

  “Is he a smart guy?”

  “Yeah, he’s the smartest kid in our school. I heard my teacher talking about him. She wondered which one of us was adopted.”

  “Oh, shit,” I whispered as I held in a laugh. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  “I look like my mom, so I guess it was him.” Vada watched me start toward my own house and she followed me. “Where are we going?”

  “Across the street to my garage. I need to bring my truck over here so I can jump-start this car.”

  “Okay,” Vada reached for my hand. “I have to hold onto a grownup when I cross the street.”

  “Oh,” I smiled down at her when she paused at the curb and looked both ways. “There’s usually not any traffic out here. The only people that live on this street are my brothers and me.”

  “You live by your brothers?” Vada wrinkled her nose in disgust. “On purpose?”

  “Yeah,” I laughed at her question. “Once you get older, they’re not assholes as much as they seem to be when you’re young.”

  “Good,” Vada shuddered.

  “What’s your mom doing?”

  “Her friend Lena has a cramp in her leg so she came to give her a massage and help it get better.”

  “And you’re not in there playing with the babies?”

  “Nope.” Vada hopped up into my truck and scooted over to the passenger side. “I held one and it pooped. I almost threw up.”

  “Yeah, they can be pretty toxic.”

  “It was disgusting.” Vada shuddered.

  I started the truck and backed out of my driveway to go over to Greer’s house. Once I had the truck situated just right beside my sister’s car, I turned it off and popped the hood.

  “Alright, come over here and let me teach you how to jump-start a car,” I told the little hellion. Once we had the cables hooked up, I gave it a few minutes to charge while I answered her questions.

  Vada would point to a piece of the engine and ask what it was and then after I answered, she’d ask what it did.

  “You want to get into the car and try and start it up?”

  “Sure!” She bounced up and down for a second before she ran around to get in on the driver’s side. She got settled inside and yelled, “Are you ready?”

  “Go for it.”

  The car turned over a few times and then finally caught. Vada jumped back out onto the driveway and put her hands above her head as she jumped up and down in triumph.

  “We fixed it!”

  “We did.” I laughed as I took the cables off the battery under the truck hood and then shut it. I walked around my truck and reached in to turn it off before I walked over and removed the cables under the car’s hood. “Good job.”

  “I’m going to be a mechanic when I grow up,” Vada said seriously.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I told her. “I know a couple of guys that own shops here in town. I’ll give you a good reference.”

  “I want to go tell my mom.”

  “Turn the car off and give me the keys. I’ll walk over there with you.”

  Vada did what I asked as I put the cables back into the toolbox behind the cab of my truck and soon we were ready to walk over to Finn and Lena’s.

  “If you live over there, then whose car did we fix?”

  “My sister Greer’s car.”

  “I thought you said your
brothers lived on this street.”

  “Greer doesn’t live in that house anymore, sweetheart.”

  “Why? Where did she go?”

  “She died a few months ago.”

  “Oh,” Vada frowned. “That’s sad. Our cat died. I cried and so did Cyrus. Did you cry when your sister died?”

  “I did.”

  Vada got a little closer and took my hand in hers. With her other hand, she patted the top of mine and I smiled down at her. This kid was a riot and had no filter between her brain and her mouth, but she was so damn sweet too. I loved it.

  “There’s my brother,” Vada said with a groan. The little boy on the porch looked just like Vada and Reba from what I could tell. He was leaning against the bricks with his knees up and a book just inches from his face. “Cyrus, I fixed a car!”

  “Did you break it first? Because if you did then it doesn’t count.”

  “I didn’t break it!”

  “Okay.”

  “This is, um, what’s your name?” Vada looked up at me.

  “My name is Mace Conner.”

  “Cyrus, this is my new friend, Mace Conner.”

  “You talked to a stranger.” Cyrus was glaring at his sister over the top of his book. “You could have died.”

  “Mom said we could run around outside because we were safe out here around these people.”

  “I hope she yells at you.” Cyrus dismissed Vada and me and looked back down to his book. “I’m going to laugh.”

  “Whatever.” Vada kicked his leg as she walked past him. “Asshole.”

  Cyrus just rolled his eyes and went back to his reading. Vada stomped to the door but didn’t let go of my hand, pulling me right along with her. She reached up to ring the doorbell, but I stopped her by opening the door.

  “That’s rude, you know,” she lectured me.

  “It’s my brother’s house. We don’t knock.”

  “I get to be rude to my brother even when I’m really old like you?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s a perk of having siblings. You can be mean to them no matter how old you get.”

  “I never thought of that,” Vada said in awe. “That’s awesome.”

  I could hear Lena and Reba talking in the kitchen and saw that both women were holding a twin as they sat at the table with mugs of coffee in front of them.